Srijan Shandilya, one of the toppers of the St Xavier?s School, with his mother. Picture by Ashok Karan

Ranchi, May 18: The success mantra has three simple things ? practice, time management and recreation. Don?t get bogged down by the pressure, rather stay cool. It is always better to try and understand things than just blindly mugging up the answers.

The toppers of this year?s ICSE examination have a lot to share with their juniors. One should start the preparations for the board examination after taking admission in standard X. And yes, relaxation is one of the best ways to reduce stress.

As Amrita Narang, the city topper, said: ?It is not that you have to study for the whole day and do nothing else.?

?The preparation requires proper planning and co-ordination. If you start early, you will end early, too. I divided my time among the subjects. So by the time the exams approached, I was ready. Time management is an important factor. Buried under books all the time can actually have a bad effect on you. Spend some time with your family everyday in order to kill the stress,? she said.

Shiv Prakash Ojha, the topper from the St Thomas School laid stress on the necessity of labour. ?There is no shortcut to hard work. If one thinks that he or she can easily mug-up and get through, hard times are certainly in store. Working hard in the right direction is always important and you must be sure that you are prepared. And if you don?t understand something, feel free to ask your teachers. Sitting quietly will not help,? he said.

But they all agreed on practice and proper guidance. Srijan Shandilya, the second topper from the St Xavier?s School, said: ?I would lay stress on practice. I am not much satisfied with my results. Now I know that I should have practised even more. It is more important in subjects like maths and science. One of the most important thing lies in going through the model test papers and the questions of the earlier years.?

?You should go on solving them one by one. But for this, you should start off preparations almost four to five months before the examination date. These question papers will give you the feel of the examination and you should be able to solve them. Practice will make you one of the best,? he said.

Mugging-up was a complete no-no for all of them. ?You can?t just mug-up things. It is not going to help you. What if you forget one line or a figure? You will be all jumbled up and soon get nervous. This will make you forget things you are well aware of. Mugging-up without getting into the crux is dangerous. It is always a better option to understand,? he said.

But as the saying goes: All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy.

?Give time to yourself. Go for a walk in the evening and spend time with your parents. Breathe some fresh air, as this will help you concentrate on your studies. Buried under books all the time will have bad effect on you,? they added.